http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:Anfitere&section=today deviantART RSS for by:Anfitere en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:39:02 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/19277672/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/19277672/ Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:38:33 PDT I can finally breath!

Thank you very much to all of you who wished me good luck in the exams. *superhugs*



]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/17166495/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/17166495/ Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:05:35 PST So, until I'm done with my studying, I can't be very active here. When I finish my exams, I swear I'll start posting, faving and commenting like before.

Probably, by the end of this month, I'll be online like before. x-) Wish me luck!

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16627050/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16627050/ Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:27:28 PST [link] and you can pass by [link] for more Jane Austen's discussion), but I did a little surprise for Miriette last night: a banner for her poems blog!

I'm loving a shoujo fantasy/horror manga called Selected Pandemonium (in japanese, Hyakkiyakou Shou or Tales of a Hundred Ghosts Traveling by the Night) made by Ima Ichiko, who also made some interesting shounen-ai manga. I love the mangaka's watercolored art ([link] and [link]) and the way she tells her gothic ghost stories. Selected Pandemonium ([link]) is the tale of Ritsu's encouters with ghosts after the death of his grandfather, who was a summoner of demons. The manga isn't too violent and it's more fantasy than horror. This's one of my favourites (it's a shame it's not more popular) and there's even a japanese series based on it ([link]).

Since we're talking about japanese ghost stories, there's a good shoujo manhwa called Ban Hon Sa or The Spirit Returner ([link]), with very fairytale-like stories and many dokebi or other korean spirits. The manga Tales of a Midnight Sun ([link]) is also a very good recommendation with a beautiful artwork and creepy stories.

Ueda Akinari, a famous japanese author, wrote two famous collections of ghost stories: Tales of Moonlight and Rain or Ugetsu Monogatari ([link]) and Tales of the Spring Rain or Harusame Monogatari. A famous movie based on the Tales of Moonlight and Rain was made. It's called Ugetsu and is also known as Tales of the Pale and Silvery Moon after the Rain ([link]). It tells the story of an encounter between a married craftsman in Medieval Japan and a beautiful ghost lady. Mizoguchi’s artistry is perfect while expressing the suffering of women at that time.

There's another book that features several japanese ghost stories. It's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things ([link]), wrote by the most famous japanophile Lafcadio Hearn (some of his fairytales are in [link] and some of his books in [link]). Four of Hearn's stories were made into a beautifully creepy movie called Kwaidan ([link]): "The Black Hair", "The Woman of the Snow", "Hoichi the Earless" and "In a Cup of Tea". The last one is specially surreal, but my favourite one is the third.

Chinese ghost stories are very good too, specially the Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio ([link]), a collection of nearly five hundred supernatural tales ([link]) that were used as inspiration for the famous movie series A Chinese Ghost Story ([link]).

Of course I can't finish my post without one of my favourite movies of all time: Dreams aka Yume ([link]). It isn't exactly a ghost story, but a surrealistic movie with eight stories based on the dreams of the film's director, Akira Kurosawa, at different stages of his life: Sunshine Through the Rain (about a boy trying to spy a kitsune's wedding), The Peach Orchard (where a little boy finds out that his dolls are alive), The Blizzard (a take on the Yuki-onna's myth), The Tunnel (a group of dead japanese soldiers march throught a tunnel), Crows (a student finds himself inside Van Gogh's painting "Wheat Field with Crows"), Mount Fuji in Red (radiation starts killing all the people near Mount Fuji), The Weeping Demon (after the apocalypse, a man meets a strange oni-man) and Village of the Watermills (a village where people are truly happy and celebrate a funeral with joy instead of mourning). Kurosawa's message that people are spoiling the world with pollution, consumerism and ignorance is perfectly clear in this movie. In the last dream, a villager said: "What's important is clean air and clean water."
<... ]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16398507/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16398507/ Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:29:58 PST [link]). Sir Hillary was an adventurer and a philanthropist, and I'm sure his death will leave us so much poor inside.

Me and Miriette watched the silent sci-fi movie Metropolis ([link]). This was my first silent movie and I liked it very much. Metropolis is Fritz Lang's masterpiece and was influenced by the German Expressionism ([link]). The film is set in the futuristic citie of Metroplis, where the society is divided in two groups: the ones who think and live in luxury (the Head), and the ones who work (the Hands) and live in the underground. The son of the city's ruler falls in love with an angelic woman who advises the poor workers and starts to understand the injustice of his society. Only with the Mediator's arrival will the two groups unite.

I'm reading the fourth book in Asimov's Robot Serie ([link]), The Rest of the Robots. One thing I love about Asimov is the way he expresses the positronic robots's psychological traits while always explaining them throught the Three Laws of Robotics ([link]). It reminds me of a shoujo manga called Milky Way([link]), written by Princess Kaguya's mangaka Reiko Shimizu. It tells the story of a robot called Jack who's immortal but lonely until he meets another robot, Elena. Reiko Shimizu's art and plots are always creative and interesting. The first chapter was scanlated by [link]

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16297283/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16297283/ Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:28:32 PST Past Friday, I decided I'll enroll as a History major and a Culture & Religion minor on a portuguese college! My first choice was going to be Languages, Literature and Cultures - Portuguese Studies, but I thought more and came to the conclusion that History would be better (specially because my minor will be Religion!).

I'm having a lot of fun listening to Blasted Mechanism ([link] and [link])! They're my favorite portuguese musics and my favorite alternative rock band of all time! They're just so alternative and their music is very tribal! There's nothing like that in Portugal. I like writing poetry and listening to their music is like listening to singing poetry. There's one part in one of their musics, "All the Way", that goes on like this:

"Unite your brothers, unite your tribes
Unite yourselves, yeah just tonight
Unite the sun, unite the child
Unite in one, unite and fly
Unite the sound, unite the light
Unite in truth, unite and fight
Unite your world, unite tonight
Unite yourselves, yeah just tonight".

Go watch them: [link]

I stumbled upon various cool posters from [link] They're funny and serious at the same time, while expressing the situation of women in arts. They're here:
[link]
[link]
[link]

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16178393/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16178393/ Mon, 31 Dec 2007 06:24:29 PST
The next Saturday I have to go to a consult with my ophthalmologist. I hate it when I have to go to the doctor, but I really need to. Besides, my glasses are becoming too small for me and I need to change them. One thing I hate is that I need to always choose glasses with dark frames, because my skin is very light.

Me and Miriette just finished reading Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō ([link] and [link]), also known as Quiet Country Cafe or Cafe Alpha. This is the manga that make me like the slice of life genre so much ([link]). The sci-fi elements are very rare and the quiet life of Alpha and her friends is very engaging. This is truly one of my favorite manga of all time! It's because of it that I found other slice of life manga; like the sci-fi Aria ([link]), a story about a girl trying to be a gondolier in the planet of Neo-Venezia, and the historical Emma ([link]), that tells the romance between a victorian maid and a member of the gentry.

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16086090/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16086090/ Mon, 24 Dec 2007 23:39:31 PST [link]), but I don't think I'm doing a very good job. Poor sister...

Well, I liked my Christmas presents! One of my aunts gave me a cute night dress (normally I only like pajamas, but this one is SO cute!) and another one gave me a pair of orange slippers. My sister ([link]) gave me most of the presents: a Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End's DVD, Nora Roberts's anthology Once Upon a Midnight and two earrings (I LOVE big earrings!).



]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16072981/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16072981/ Mon, 24 Dec 2007 08:39:11 PST [link]). The film is highly realistic when compared with other sci-fi movies of his time (and even today!), the use of classic music as the soundtrack is perfect, the lack of dialogue (the first and last acts of the movie - almost 45 minutes in the total - don't have any dialogue) only deepens the unconventionality of Kubrick's masterpiece and, specially, the symbolism and allegory of the movie ([link]). 2001's perfection owns a lot to his openness to interpretation ([link]). To watch as the man (the last monkey) reaches the Nirvana (his higher evolution) and literally transforms into a baby is one of the best moments in the movie. 2001's themes about the Omega Point and the evolution of mankind (like the Instrumentality in Neon Genesis Evangelion) are also reminiscent of another Arthur C. Clarke's book: Childhood's End ([link]). My favorite quote is when Bowman proclaims: "The thing's hollow — it goes on forever — and — oh my God! — it's full of stars!". This is why 2001: A Space Odyssey is truly a masterpiece.

On another subject, Erica Friedman reviewed the three first volumes of Applause, a yuri manga by Swan-mangaka Ariyoshi Kyouko. It tells the story of two girls in a private Catholic school in Belgium. The first arc (the one in the school) is pretty obvious and shoujo, but when the action switches to New York, it becomes a realistic josei. With all my yaoi overdose lately, I'm skipping my yuri! Unfortunately, there aren't any scanlations of this manga yet. It's a future project of Lililicious ([link]), but my curiosity is killing me! Well, I know I'll love it when Lililicious releases it. Erica's reviews are here:
[link]
[link]
[link]

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16045639/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/16045639/ Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:49:53 PST [link]). I don't belive I just found out about this today. Arthur C. Clark is one of my favorite writers (he wrote what I think it's the greatest movie of all time - 2001: A Space Odyssey) and he's still writing!

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15966975/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15966975/ Sun, 16 Dec 2007 23:44:12 PST
I finally wrote my to-do list in LiveJournal:
25%
!! Sleep more
health
25%
!! Read Not Here
books, fantasy, yaoi
0%
!! Check out Onadoru Euphoria
anime, manga, yaoi, games
0%
!! Read Destinies Cross
manga, yaoi
25%
! Watch Heroic Age
anime, sci-fi, seinen
0%
Walk outside more
health
0%
Meditate at least 2x a week
spirituality
0%
Watch 2001: Space Odyssey
movies, sci-fi
0%
Watch Interstella 5555
movies, sci-fi
0%
Read Dune
books, sci-fi
0%
Read Beautiful Men
manga, yaoi, sci-fi
10%
Read Okane ga Nai
manga, yaoi

I didn't think I would need one, but it's quite handy and more pratical than writing down in notebooks (my 2nd brains, as I like to call them). When I finished it, I reached a conclusion: I'm reading too much sci-fi! I need to read some fantasy!

Now that I'm much better, I can continue reading Haru wo Daite Ita! I first found out about this manga through Winter Cicada's OVAs ([link]). I watched the three OVAs and loved them, without even knowning that it was a story within a story. When I discovered that there was a main plot, I watched the two OVAs anime ([link]) and my curiosity was aroused. I started reading the manga and I'm now in volume 10! The manga is 14 volumes long, which means that I have four more books to read. Haru wo Daite Ita or Embracing Love ([link]) is a romantic drama about two AV actors, their relationship and the movies industry. I love Nitta Youka's masculine style (we're talking about adult biseinen and not some teen bishounen) and the way she characterized Iwaki's and Kaito's personality. Haru wo Daite Ita is one of the most popular yaoi series. I don't know why, but I'm always picturing them in a live-action movie. Well, who knows?

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15880261/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15880261/ Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:43:10 PST
When I was browsing LiveJournal, I found a post that maked me quite mad: a certain person was saying that feminists were a bunch of stupid women and men haters. As a feminist (an eco-feminist, actually), there's nothing that hurts me more than to see ignorant people making stupid comments about things they obviously don't know. Ignorance is really a man's worst enemy. First; I'm a proud feminist and I don't hate men. Why should I hate them? Even if some man had hurted me, judging the entire masculine sex for something that only one person did is pretty stupid. True feminists don't do that and they aren't men haters, either. Second; this person implied that the feminist's work is done in our society, that "real" women didn't cared about things like that and should be moving on. Of course we don't have the same level of discrimination women in Africa have, but we STILL aren't equal and we STILL need feminism ([link]). How many women politicians do we have compared to men? And women in the Army or in the Police? And what about the number of women that are raped, killed and abused? There is far more women sexually assaulted than men and the criminal system is still failling these victims. There's still a lot to be done, a lot. That person also said a thing about how transgendered FTM were stupid and sexist (for some people, apparently, ignorance is really a personality trait). I bet Brandon Teena's murderers ([link]) thought the same thing. All of us have to be modern warriors and fight against things like that. It's our duty as women and men in today's society.

I also found this list.

Homophobia and You:
I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.
I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.
I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.
We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.
I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.
I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.
I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.
I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.
We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.
I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.
I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.
I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.
I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.
I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.
I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.
I am the woman who died when the EMTs stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.
I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I didn’t have to always deal with society hating me.
I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.
I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.
I am the person who is afraid of telling his loving Christian parents he loves another male.

If you also think homophobia is wrong, please post this in your LJ/blog/site, etc.

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15775295/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15775295/ Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:57:51 PST [link]). Maybe I'm afraid that, because I'm so sleepy, I'll fall asleep while meditating. I know that, if I don't meditate with the eyes closed and while I'm lay down, I should be fine, but I think I'll wait a little more before I start meditating daily.
I started meditating almost three years ago, when my philosophy teacher put a New Age music playing and challenged us to try to meditate. Almost everyone of my classmates said that they almost fell asleep, but I didn't. I became more curious and started doing it at home. My first experiences were positive, so I continuated. Meditation is so healthy for our body and our mind and everyone should do it. And it's EASY ([link])!

I watched the trailer of the new Beowulf movie ([link]). I was quite interested in the movie, because I knew that Neil Gaiman would take care of the script. Unfortunately, I'm not so interested now. Well, I like the special effects and the actors, but I think they took too much liberties with the source. Yes, the "horrible" poem that nobody, except me, seems to have liked. In the movie, Grendel's mother is an erotic creature (Angelina Jolie), while in the poem she's described as a “monstrous hellbride” (Heaney, line 1259) and a “swamp-thing from hell, / the tarn-hag in all her terrible strength” (lines 1518-1519). Hardly the beautiful figure that the movie makes her be. I know I'm starting to talk like a literature purist, but couldn't Hollywood make, for once, a good adaptation without all the male fanservice?

I also watched the first two episodes of Patalliro ([link]), the adaptation of the longest shoujo manga still running. It's an adorably twisted shounen-ai slapstick comedy about the boy-king Patalliro and his bodyguard, the English MI6 agent, Major Bancoran ("The Bishounen Killer"). It's a very funny anime that I'll, definitely, see until the end.

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15675312/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15675312/ Mon, 26 Nov 2007 07:01:23 PST [link]) and, even if I'm not a diary person, I still managed to write all the dreams that I remembered and their possible interpretation. However, in the last months I haven't slept very well and, when this happens, I can't remember my dreams! It's almost a whole month since I updated my dream diary. If this keeps going on, I will never get a lucid dream in my whole life ([link])! My sister is very good at lucid dreaming, but it seems that I can't manage to do it. Well, I just have to keep trying.

Now, with a more serious issue: the Burma crisis. Thousands of Buddhist monks have been marching in peaceful protest against the military dictatorship in Burma. The regime has responded with a violent crackdown against monks and other non-violent protestors. They have beaten and arrested hundreds of people, and reportedly killed at least 200 people. MTV is organizing a campaign to free Aung San Suu Kyi ([link]) and support the monks. I believe that Aung San Suu Kyi is the only hope to free Burma and that we have to pressure companies to severe business ties with Burma's dictatorship. Please, send an email to the UN Secretary General calling for urgent action. You can do it in [link] It's easy and it's free. We have to do all we can to stop the hatred and suffering in Burma.

In my country, there's a five years old girl that lived all her life with her foster parents, but now her real father want her to live with him. Unfortunately, the Justice system gave him reason and the little girl has to be delivered to her father and leave her foster parents the day before Christmas! What kind of crappy system is this?

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15572475/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15572475/ Mon, 19 Nov 2007 06:05:43 PST

Now I'm watching, among other series, the Legend of the Galactic Heroes ([link]) . I only watched six episodes (the anime have 110 episodes), but I'm already loving it. It's a classsic seinen sci-fi (I love old school animes!) and it's very military and political. It tells the story of two intelligent officers, Reinhard and Yang Wen-li, each one in another side of an intergalactic war while they try to overcome one another. I really need to get my hands at the translations of the light novels.

I also want to say that I won't post any of my writing there, because I only know how to write well in my language. Well, a deviantART artist called hades-daughter ([link]) used and claimed Jim Warren's painting "Stairway to Heaven" as her own ([link]). I was browsing the deviantART gallery when I found the painting. Jim Warren's one of my favourite artists and I recognized his painting at first sight. There's nothing worse to an artist than an art thief and, frankly speaking, to see someone so shamelessly plagiarizing a talented artist like Jim Warren is just too much horrible. Fortunetly, the situation was settled: I made a complaint about her and she was banned.

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15510421/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15510421/ Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:06:06 PST [link] just released the first chapter of the yaoi Sherlock Holmes manga Fin de Siècle Detective Club! It was really good, funny and even Arsène Lupin made an appearance. I'll be looking forward to read the next chapters and their future From Eroica With Love scanlations.

I just finished reading Death Note and, contrary to what some people say, I really liked the end. It ended in a mysterious way (was it Misa the girl praying to Kira?) and also an obvious one. Of course Light would be defeated by Near (I was sad by L's death, but I liked his substitute). On the matter of his dishonorable death, he was just an egotistic sociopath and mass murderer that got what he deserved, like Near pointed. I also loved the way Near explained to Light that he was stronger than L, but he wasn't clever than him AND Mello. Now, I just have to watch the anime and the movies.

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15479797/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15479797/ Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:00:48 PST [link]). The movie is called "Astérix aux Jeux Olympiques" (Asterix in the Olympic Games). Of course it's only in french, but the teaser looks great anyway. I'll be looking forward to this new movie!

The final trailer of "The Golden Compass" has just been released online for all the fans that weren't at his official launchment ([link]). I just have to say that, as a fan of the books, I found the trailer really good. I really hope that the movie keeps up to the book. We all know that, when an adaptation is made, they're certain changes, but the beauty of the book is in his wonderful message. I hope this is one change they didn't made. And all the people bad-mouthing Philip Pullman because "he's promoting atheism and anti-catholicism" should feel ashamed. It's pretty obvious that these people didn't even bother to read the book, or else they would know that Philip Pullman is a great writer that's only promoting kindness, love, courage and courtesy. I love the way the books developed the Daemon's concept and Lyra's femininity role. We really need more fantasy books like this: books that are perfect for kids AND adults alike.

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15415941/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15415941/ Thu, 08 Nov 2007 05:30:43 PST

I strumbled up an article after the opening of the Stardust movie where Neil Gaiman explained how he came to write a fairytale for adults ([link]). I really love adult fairytales (specially the feminist ones), they're so full of magic. You can read some of them in [link]

I just found out that [link] is scanlating Fake 2nd Season! I always liked Fake and I was looking forward for someone to pick up his sequel. Normally, I prefer yaoi and yuri couples, but Bikky and Carol are so sweet together!

In this moment, I'm listening to Utena's "Rinbu Revolution". All of the Utena's soundtrack is gourgeous, specially the opening and the ending. The symbolism of the music is one of the best!

]]> ~Anfitere http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15380282/ http://Anfitere.deviantart.com/journal/15380282/ Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:46:34 PST
First of all, I want to apologize for my English. Portuguese is my first language, but I will try not to make many grammatical errors.

So, to the next subject: what's an anfitere? In portuguese, Anfitere means Amphitere ([link]). Basically, it's a winged serpent associated with Quetzalcoatl, one of my favorite gods. You can see an example of an amphitere here ([link]).

I like to make up stories. One day, I created one called "O Despertar de Anfitere" (The Awakening of Amphitere), about the death and rebirth of an amnesic goddess. It was a mixture of Fantasy, Sci-fi, Drama, Romance, Psychological and Mystery. Anfitere was the main character's name and so, it became my nick too.

]]> ~Anfitere